Jerusalem ? Just two months after taking office, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia faces trouble from all sides.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has publicly undermined him. Militants have rebuffed his calls for a truce. And Israel has ignored his pleas to stop building a contentious West Bank barrier, weakening his credibility among Palestinians. Western donors have implied aid money could dry up if he doesn’t find a way to end violence.

Qureia’s predicament could doom efforts to restart the peace process. In recent weeks, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suggested he might impose new borders if no deal is reached soon, a move analysts on both sides fear would spell the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

“There are pressures from all over,” said Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi. “It really would undermine anybody.”

Qureia’s weakness raises questions about the viability of any Palestinian prime minister.

The first, Mahmoud Abbas, was prime minister for only four months before resigning n September, having tussled with Arafat over control of the Palestinian security forces. But Qureia, a seasoned political survivor known as Abu Ala, was considered wilier and more likely to succeed.

“He’s very smart and very cautious,” said Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the Israeli Yediot Ahronot newspaper. “He doesn’t want to confront Arafat. He wants to manipulate his way between all parties.”

Qureia did challenge Arafat in a battle for control of the Palestinian security forces that held up the formation of his Cabinet for a month. Arafat emerged victorious, rejecting even the minor, face-saving gesture of letting a Qureia ally join the Cabinet.

Arafat reportedly belittles Qureia in meetings, and Palestinians have crafted a series of jokes about Qureia’s fealty to the Palestinian leader. A senior Arafat aide privately compared Qureia to a boy sitting at Arafat’s knee.

Qureia said he wasn’t bothered. “You Israelis say that I am a puppet in his hands — go ahead, say so,” Qureia said in an interview published Friday in Yediot Ahronot.

The latest blow to Qureia came a week ago with the breakdown of talks aimed at persuading Islamic militants to halt attacks.

Qureia had hoped an agreement would give him the power to negotiate a truce with Israel. He risked his credibility by traveling to the meeting in Egypt to put his personal stamp on the negotiations.

But Hamas, the strongest rival to Qureia’s Fatah party, demanded a power-sharing agreement and refused to give him a free hand to negotiate a cease-fire.